Canada steps up pirate battle

The federal government is extending Canada's anti-piracy mission off the coast of Somalia and looking to close legal loopholes that result in the "catch-and-release" of perpetrators.

Defence Minister Peter MacKay announced yesterday that Canada has agreed to NATO's request to keep the HMCS Winnipeg patrolling the pirate-infested waters in the Gulf of Aden into June.

THREE ATTEMPTS

"Our men and women there are acting extremely courageously in deterring the attacks," he told CTV's Question Period. "We have at least three, if not more, attempts that have been made on ships where the HMCS Winnipeg has intervened and prevented those attacks."

MacKay said because Canadians are in a "flux zone" outside territorial limits, sailors can't arrest and charge suspects unless they are directly attacking a Canadian-flagged ship. The U.S., France and Britain have reached agreements with African countries to prosecute there, and Canada's foreign affairs department is "very aggressively" seeking ways for Canada to hold suspects to account.

Michael Byers, an international law expert at the University of British Columbia, said piracy is in Canada's Criminal Code and subject to universal jurisdiction under international law.

"I think the government has decided it doesn't want to make the time and effort to prosecute what are essentially a bunch of teenage Somalis, and have made this decision knowing full well that prosecution will not actually solve the larger problem," he told Sun Media.

Failing to prosecute sends a message to potential pirates that they can act with impunity and puts Canada in possible violation of international law, Byers said.